Hand Controls

MSI's hand controls couple our broad offering of grips with our high-performance joystick technologies for the best possible performance. As the inventor of the force joystick, MSI continued on a path of innovation to design, patent and manufacture non-contact sensing Hall Effect technology for our hand controls which enhances both performance and reliability.

Ultra MSI hand controls feature:

A wide variety of form factors including traditional Gunner and Commander controls as well as lightweight, handheld solutions

Battle-proven performance that withstands not only documented specification requirements, but also real-life wear and tear

Continuous design and innovation to meet changing operational needs as well as enhanced human factors required for military operators in theater

The support and service needed to achieve program milestones, meet technical requirements and to sustain the program through after-market maintenance and repair

How does MSI's non-contact sensing technology improve hand control performance?

MSI chose to focus on technologies that deliver performance in support of customer requirements and, as a result, introduced non-contact sensing Hall Effect technology. The benefits of MSI's non-contact sensing technologies over traditional potentiometers are:

Reliability due to our true contactless design which eliminates mechanical gimbals and therefore also normal mechanical wear on the transducer

Accuracy and precision through a more reliable return to zero, high resolution, high breakout force and exceptional linearity

Compact and lightweight as a result of our more compact, "gimbal-less" design

Reconfigurable control - replace or upgrade quickly and cost effectively

Realizing that repair and upgradability are key features for our customers, MSI developed and patented the Reconfigurable Control, RCC™, interface. By leveraging a plug-and-play connector interface between the grip and the transducer base, MSI has made it possible to replace a damaged or worn out grip without having to remove the base. Grips get stepped on, power washed and otherwise abused in theater, but why should our customers have to go through the time and expense of repairing or replacing an entire hand control when simply replacing the grip will get a system back up and fully operational? In addition to providing simplified repair, MSI's RCC™ technology enables upgrades to functionality which can help keep both development time and implementation costs to a minimum.

Gunner's (yoke) style controls - This control is our workhorse for turret and drive control applications. With a variety of designs addressing different platform requirements, MSI's solutions offer enhanced toe-in, camber and caster to minimize operator fatigue. Also, with increased attention to space constraints, MSI has a version that significantly reduces the size of what has traditionally been a fairly large hand control.

Hand Held Controls - In support of dismounted operations and the control of unmanned vehicles, MSI was first to offer hand-held, man-portable controllers in game-style and tablet designs. Compact and lightweight with enhanced HMI capability for concentrated and versatile functionality. These intuitive control solutions not only improve operator control, but they also reduce training time by leveraging familiar form factors. Our applications have also expanded into single handed controllers that are ideally suited for Soldier systems.

Customized Hand Control Solutions - MSI has the product library and transducer technologies to design and manufacture ideal control solutions for virtually any military or ruggedized application. Any of our standard or custom grip styles can be leveraged into a more advanced hand control through our high reliability non-contact sensing transducer technologies.